At the Bottom of the River

Critique

Kincaid describes At the Bottom of the River as “a very unangry, decent, civilized book”.[10] Critics, however, have found significant elements of anger and rebellion in her stories. They've noted anger at the colonial powers that oppressed her country post-Emancipation and, quite powerfully, unresolved, repressed anger against her own mother.[11] These feelings are powerfully played out in each of her stories in the mother-daughter struggles it describes. The collection has been lauded, however, for its implicit examination of family relationships and the effects of colonialism on the Caribbean islands. Other critics dislike the fragmented, almost superficial, nature of the narrative, suggesting they lack adequate depth. Some critics also perceive that Kincaid did little to mask her own personal experiences in the stories, suggesting that they are too autobiographic in nature. Her personal struggles as a teenager growing up in post-colonial Antigua and her struggles with her mother are too vividly mirrored in the narratives of At the Bottom of the River. The most common debate over this work is its being categorized as a collection of short stories rather than poems. Critics believe that because of their writing style and fragmented nature, the pieces is more aptly described as prose poems. Critics have also identified considerable links between the unnamed narrator of At the Bottom of the River and the teenage Annie in her later 1985 novel, Annie John, suggesting that the novel is an expansion and completion of the earlier narratives.[10]


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